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Friday, May 1, 2015

What’s a Reader to Do? By Melinda Viergever Inman

There are now 8 million books on Amazon. A year ago there
were “only” 2 million.

What
does that mean for you, the reader?

You have an abundance of choices. This is the good part!

But that brings a dilemma. More than 300,000 titles are
published each year in the United States alone. A new title is added every five
minutes on Amazon. Which books are good? How can you know?

This produces an unexpected outcome. Some of your favorite
authors will quit publishing, because not enough people discover their books.

Publishers no longer provide much publicity for their
authors. This means excellent books are never discovered, unless you step in
and change everything. How?

Tell
others about the books you love. As a reader, it’s all in your hands.

If you don’t act, even great books won’t make it. We writers
know you didn't want this responsibility. We’re sorry. It wasn’t our decision.
We would never have done this to you. You simply want to read books and share
them with your friends, like we all did in the good old days.

Back then the publishing houses deliberately kept the supply
low, so they could keep the prices high. They invested in publicity campaigns
for their authors, driving book costs even higher. With few books and high
prices, we passed them around.

Then came Amazon. Writers and small publishing houses had
grown tired of great stories never making it to print. Inexpensive e-books and
indie publishing arrived on the scene, and now the publishing industry has
changed forever.

As a
result, you have been given this job.

You now have more stories to read. But now you, the reader,
must act. You have the power to determine which stories are discovered in that
enormous book pile.

If you lend out your copy and allow it to be passed around,
the author and publisher will not recoup their investment. There won’t be
enough sales to prompt the publisher to produce the author’s next book. That
tactic will put her out of business.

If you don’t tell others, if they don’t then buy their own
copies, and if many of you don’t write reviews about the books you love, no one
will ever find them.

We may try to go it alone, something no author does well. We
may stop waiting for our publisher and skip the advantage of hiring
professional editors, because we don’t have the $3000-4500 needed for a content
and a copy edit. We may simply slap
our novel up on Amazon for public consumption. (Why this is a terrible idea: http://www.christianwritingtoday.com/self-published-books-fail-marketplace/)

Then you, the reader, will be faced with an enormous pile of
rough drafts, books that weren’t fully developed or edited and yet were
published anyway. This is one reason there are so many books on Amazon today.

If you
want to read quality stories, you must act.

The publishing world awaits your decision, and so do all
your favorite authors. We can’t move forward with our next novel until you
decide, even if we have the manuscript sitting right there ready to go.

Nudged
toward evil by Satan, Cain 's hard-hearted hubris results in Abel's murder and
Lilith's broken heart when he is banished, splitting the family and propelling
mankind toward ever-increasing violence as their siblings seek revenge. Crushed
by what he's done, Cain runs, certain he's destroyed Lilith, his parents, and
the entire family. With Satan hounding his every move and no idea of the forces
arrayed against him, can Cain ever find God after he's committed a sin of such
magnitude? Can he ever be forgiven?

Melinda Viergever Inman was
raised in the tornado capital of the U.S.—Wakita, Oklahoma, of
"Twister" fame. There her parents met. There her roots were sunk in a
storytelling family. During years of relocation, tragedy struck. Wounded and
heartbroken, Melinda forsook her roots and ran from herself and from God. A
journey of trial and heartache brought her home again. A prodigal now returned
to her secure foundation, she writes with passion, illustrating God's love for
wounded people as he makes beauty from ashes. Refuge is her first novel. Melinda shepherds women in church and
in prison ministry and writes inspirational material on her biweekly blog at http://melindainman.com/blog/. With
her family she is involved with Mission India, rescuing orphans and providing
theological and job training for impoverished students— http://rimi.org/.

You're welcome, Bruce! We who write and deal with this industry every day are familiar with these facts. We have to cope with their effects every day. But our readers aren't usually acquainted with these details. They don't know our industry as well as we do. I think it helps to repeat these truths periodically, so they understand their part. Everything has changed, and it takes time for all of us to adjust to the wild ride!

Thanks for reminding us, Melinda. Since joining Christian Reviewers on Facebook, I've made it a habit to try to do a review for every book I read. Definitely don't want our favorite authors to stop putting out their wonderful books! Blessings

This will probably be considered a rant...I'm an avid reader; I would love to buy many more books than I do each month. If I share books with friends, it's not a "tactic" to deprive an author her/his investment, it's because I don't want to live in my car. The price of paperbacks goes up every year, but my salary does not. I could spend an entire paycheck on books from my favorite authors, and still not be able to purchase books from debut or new to me authors. I have read so many articles about authors, publishers and Amazon fighting over who gets what percent. The money you are fighting over is the readers’. Amazon does not negotiate with us, they charge a price and we pay it or don't read. After I purchase a book, it's mine, if I read it, throw it away or gift it, that's my decision. Don't overlook the benefit to book sharing; it brings you new readers. When I give books to people it usually turns them into book addicts because I share the good stuff I know will get them hooked. I absolutely love authors, especially Romance and Christian fiction writers. I hear your appeal, if you lose, then we as readers lose. I will make a commitment to leave reviews, revive my review blog and help promote your work. I want you all around forever. I plan to be reading for a long time, in fact I believe the last sound I hear before I go to glory, will be the sound of my book or e-reader hitting the floor.

Lynne, I understand your frustration! We're all frustrated. Many authors are seeking creative solutions, such as indie publishing and Kindle Direct, precisely because they feel this situation is unfair to their readers. Prices go higher and higher, and now publishers expect readers to also help with the marketing. As an author, I'm constantly seeking creative solutions that benefit my readers. E-books can give some wiggle room with our publishers. I actually asked my publisher to drop my e-book price, because I felt it was too high for my readers. We're on YOUR side. We want people to read our stories. But we have to at least break even. As much as it costs to create these stories and to market them, we have to have some return for our labors. If all our readers had as much passion about reading as you do and turned that passion into writing reviews and promoting the books they love, we'd all be in a very good place! Thank you for your comments, and thank you for reading! I'm with you!